At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Baxia joined the pickup, and the two ships escorted the PJP on its southbound journey. Now it is only more than 200 kilometers away from Haiphong Port, and it is far from being out of the danger zone.

At this time, the weather began to gradually deteriorate, and in the wind and waves, the three ships were not moving fast. The reconnaissance aircraft has also been recovered from the JPJ.

At this moment, there was a soldier on the watchtower of the Baxia who reported that "a warship was found."

The distance is long, and it is difficult to distinguish the type of battleship in the telescope. Zheng Xuechang was already nervous at this time. No matter what type of warship the army is, it is not difficult for the Baxia to break away with a high speed of 30 knots. However, the pickup and PJP were slower, and it was difficult to escape from the pursuit of the Japanese warships.

In any case, the Baxia cannot go first. Zheng Xuechang immediately ordered the PJP to break away at full speed. And the Baxia is ready for battle with the pickup number.

At this time, the Pixiu was searching for the military submarine Yi 52 and could not be contacted. Zheng Xuechang ordered the telegraph operator to continue to contact while preparing for battle.

The warship was very fast, and it was approaching at a speed of about thirty knots at this time. The maximum speed of the PJP was only 123 knots, and it would only take more than an hour for the PJP to fall into the range of the warship's guns.

On the battleship of the Japanese army, the captain of the ship, Kotaro Goto, Nakasa, had already discovered three ships on the sea. At this moment, the French freighter traveling with the PJP was worried about the fish in the pond, and had already approached the coastline.

This warship was a light cruiser, and it was also a warship built in the late part of World War I, the Tenryu. The displacement is more than three thousand tons.

More than an hour later, Zheng Xuechang had already seen the face of this military warship. This battleship is obviously larger than the previous destroyers, but the appearance gives people a strange feeling, as if it is an enlarged version of the destroyer.

Zheng Xuechang hurriedly searched for information about this battleship. The Naval Resistance Army has captured a lot of seafarers in previous robberies, and a considerable number of them have naval experience, and under the interrogation of the Naval Resistance Army and the collection of various information, the Naval Resistance Army has now obtained a lot of information about the warships. However, the information is very incomplete, and most of them are old warships.

The strange shape of the warship reminded Zheng Xuechang that while in Shanghai, Zheng Xuechang had seen the battleship's brother ship, the Longtian, when the Longtian was shooting at the Chinese positions in the Huangpu River. It must be the light cruiser Tianlong, Zheng Xuechang has already made his judgment.

This warship has an extremely slender appearance, and its firepower configuration can also be said to be strange. The Draco-class light patrol was built earlier. The construction of this light cruiser can actually be said to be an enlarged version of the destroyers of the time. There were two light cruisers of this class, one was the Tenryu and the other was the Longtian, and now they both belonged to the Fifth Fleet.

The firepower arrangement of the Tianryu-class is very special, equipped with four 14 cm and 50 times the diameter of the single guns, the No. 1 and No. 2 guns are located in the front and rear of the forward bridge, and the No. 3 and No. 4 guns are also located in the front and rear of the rear bridge.

The guns of most warships were in the front and rear of the warship, and only the secondary guns were on the sides of the battleship. However, in order to be able to exert the firepower of several main guns on both side chords, the front and rear bridges were arranged separately, and the four guns were arranged in front and behind the two bridges.

When Zheng Xuechang basically figured out the parameters of the battleship, he gasped. Although the Baxia was a gunboat, it was not designed to be used to fight cruisers, and the bigger target should be destroyers.

The firepower of the Baxia was not very strong, with only one 152mm cannon and two 88mm anti-aircraft guns. The reason why it was able to confront the destroyers of the Yue Army was that they only had two advantages, the first was that the caliber of the main gun was larger than that of the opponent, and the second was armored.

But in the face of light cruisers, the advantage was gone. First of all, the opponent's four main guns far exceeded the Baxia in firepower. The second armor also has little advantage, after all, the Baxia only has three inches of side armor, three inches of armor for the main gun turret, and some parts of the rest are one inch and some are two inches.

This kind of armor protection, except that it can survive a slightly higher shell bombardment with 120mm naval guns. When encountering 140mm naval guns, there is not much certainty of immunity.

The basic design of cruisers and battleships of this era was that their armor could withstand their own artillery strikes. In other words, the main armor of the Tenryu destroyer can withstand long-range strikes from 140mm naval guns.

Now the distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and they are about to enter the range of naval guns. The situation is obvious, if the Baxia escapes, then the PJP and Pickup will definitely have a hard time escaping.

Zheng Xuechang reflected on his arrangement, and the Baxia and Pickup fought against the cruisers of the army. I don't know if it's right or wrong, under normal circumstances, it is impossible for the two warships of the Naval Resistance Army to defeat the cruiser of the Yue Army.

Comparing the artillery fire of the two sides, even if the Baxia can be equivalent to the two main guns of the Tianlong, the four 88mm guns of the pickup are difficult to use as the power of the two main guns of the army anyway. Moreover, the pickup is not armored, and as long as one of the army's naval guns hits a key position, the pickup will be scrapped.

The Tenryu light cruiser not only has a main gun, but also a secondary gun with a caliber of 80mm.

Zheng Xuechang's mind was turning fast at this time, and fighting a war was to use his own strengths and attack the enemy's shortcomings. Zheng Xuechang was squeezing his knowledge of naval warfare for several years at this time. I want to find out where my strengths lie.

"Report, enemy ships are in range."

27 km. This is the range of the Baxia's main gun.

One sentence reminded Zheng Xuechang that the advantage, by the way, this is the advantage. Although the Soviet-made 152 cannon was not specifically designed for naval guns, its range was an astonishing 27 km. Although the specific parameters of the 140mm guns of the Japanese army are unknown, the warships manufactured at the end of World War I must not have such a long range.

Yes, Zheng Xuechang guessed right. Although this naval gun has a diameter of 50 times, it fires 38 kilograms of shells and has a maximum range of only 19 kilometers. But the maximum range of the cannon is not an accurate range, and at this distance the shell can even deviate by a kilometer. If the warships fight, it will be sure at twelve or thirteen kilometers.

And the main gun of the Baxia can achieve quite accurate shooting at a range of 18 to 20 kilometers. Li Guang's cannon is really the right one, in this sense. At first, the Soviets refused to sell the 203mm B4 heavy gun, because the 152mm cannon could almost be regarded as a failed design, and it weighed three or four tons more than the large-caliber 203mm gun, which was almost a fatal weakness in land combat. But Li Guang is used for warships, although there are still many problems, but it is definitely not a problem to have such an extra weight of three or four tons. The use of this cannon by the Baxia is a blessing in disguise.

Zheng Xuechang thought of this, and immediately sent a signal through the flag.

"Raise the flag." With the order issued, the pickup number and the baxia number raised the flag in unison.

Since the battle flag is raised, the blood of the warriors begins to stir, and it is the wish of every Chinese soldier to truly fight under the national flag. The first duel between warships of the Naval Resistance Army kicked off.

;